


Getting Along

by peachmeowzipan



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underswap (Undertale), Comedy, First Meetings, Intimidation gone wrong, Other, Reader is not Frisk or Chara, Shovel talks, hints of angst, kabedon, mutual crush, papyrus tries, playing with the protective brother trope, reader is unexpectedly into it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 08:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23348176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachmeowzipan/pseuds/peachmeowzipan
Summary: “SO!” Sans exclaimed about a week later, when Papyrus warped into his chair at the kitchen table. He was plating some eggs as he spoke, placing them in front of Papyrus with a gleeful look on his face. Dread curdled inside of him– he had expected this to happen eventually, had known that he'd been living on borrowed time. “MY NEW FRIEND SEEMSAWFULLYINTERESTED IN YOU ALL OF A SUDDEN....”
Relationships: Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 25
Kudos: 163





	Getting Along

**Author's Note:**

> i read a fic _ages_ ago (read: months ago, but i can't find it now) that ended up using the 'protective (older) brother' trope with swapfell papyrus, and, UH, i really liked it, lmao. but he wasn't the romantic interest. this idea has been following me around ever since, so i finally sat down and wrote it out! and since i've never written us!papyrus/reader before, i wanted to try that. also, making this underswap felt more natural for me, considering the way i write the swapfell bros.

His brother had been talking to a new human lately– it must have been the hundredth since they came to the surface about a year ago, and Papyrus hated watching him try to get close over and over, only to end up getting hurt. Even though this human seemed like one of the nice ones, he was still cautious. He'd seen this same song and dance every time, after all. Even when the human was nice, they still found a way to hurt his brother. It wasn't as bad as when the human thinks Sans is a joke and that hanging out with him is hilarious, but Papyrus usually puts a stop to that shit pretty quickly, corners the human when they're minding their own business and tells them to fuck off. He'd caught one bad mouthing his brother to a group of shitty humans once, all of them laughing their asses off at Sans' expense, and he'd swear the amount of rage in him sucked the warmth right out of the air.

There were worse humans who were mean to Sans right off the bat, but at least they didn't drag it out for weeks before they revealed their true colors. And even though Sans bounced back every time and kept trying, Papyrus knew it always got to him. In those empty evenings when he'd be sitting on the couch, spacing out, eye lights not really trained on anything as he got lost in his head. Papyrus knew that feeling without having to hear about it, had felt it echoed in his own soul a million times in the Underground while Sans was off charming every monster who looked his way. Quiet moments he'd never share with anyone, quiet thoughts he'd never talk about. _'What am I doing wrong?'_

Papyrus was really good at distracting him when he got like that. Stopping him from hurting himself again, not so much. It wasn't like he wanted to stop his brother from _trying_ , but keeping himself a little more guarded would have gone a long way. If his brother was intent about anything, though, it was making new friends. It wasn't his fault most humans turned out to be assholes.

So Papyrus got tired of watching. He'd taken to pulling aside every human Sans brought around after a while, nice or not, and giving them a good shovel talk to put the fear of the Angel in them. Sometimes it worked, and they left before they could do any real damage. Sometimes it didn't, and they still got away with their bullshit. Papyrus tried, anyway, and he usually got results.

Just because this human seemed nice didn't mean they couldn't be biding their time to find a way to hurt his brother's feelings. If you weren't taking this seriously, he _would_ find out. One way or another. And sooner was always better than later.

He was waiting in the hallway on your second visit, hands in his pockets as he leaned against the wall and pretended to watch the wallpaper, teeth a straight line, sockets listing slightly. You had just mentioned that you needed to use the bathroom, and he could hear you washing your hands from the other side of the door, only a few feet down the hall. You were helping Sans in the kitchen today– he was trying to learn how to make some kind of cheesy, homemade bread from human ingredients, and you had helped him go shopping just a few hours ago to find the right ones.

The door to the bathroom creaked open, and Papyrus didn't move, didn't even look in your direction. He heard you walk out, though, heard your tiny gasp when you noticed him lurking there in the shadowy hall, the way you jumped.

“Oh!” you said, chuckling, and he tilted his skull to look at you, expression neutral as he took in your politely frazzled demeanor, “You scared me!”

He didn't answer, but pushed off of the wall, and he didn't miss the slight crease between your brows, the way you took a step to the side, as if to move around him. He wasn't having it, though, took one long step into your space and leaned towards you. It made you stumble back slightly, eyes flying open with shock, and he slammed one hand on the wall beside your shoulder, caging you there and keeping you from leaving.

He _did_ miss the sudden heat that rose in your face.

“Hey,” he said, tone low and intimidating, “so you been hangin' around my bro a lot, lately. Noticed you came by last time and didn't get to say hi. Thought I'd change that.”

He paused, as if waiting for a response, but you were still just staring at him owlishly, and he huffed, leaning in a little closer.

“Listen. I don't appreciate people leading him on. You get me?” he went on, teeth twisting downward slightly, “Last person who did that ain't lookin' too good. Understand?”

You still didn't answer, and your posture changed slightly, one arm coming up to cradle your elbow, the other one reaching up to toy absently with the collar of your shirt. His frown deepened.

“I'm _saying_ they took a trip to the hospital under mysterious circumstances,” he lied, tilting his head and smirking, sockets listing further, “Wouldn't really know what happened, but I got a lot of people who do. A lot of eyes in this city,” at least eight of them, although he'd never actually asked Muffet to hurt anyone for him, and he never would, “and a lot of friends.”

He let that threat hang in the air for a moment, his smile faltering when he saw the tiny smile that was tugging at your lips, the way your eyes were still wide and trained on his sockets.

“Uh...” he hesitated, at a loss. This hadn't happened to him before. “You understand me? You hurt my brother, and we're gonna have... issues....”

There was a moment of silence as he had to glance away, suddenly uncomfortable with the amount of eye contact he was making. A light sheen of sweat began to form on his brow, and he made a sound like clearing his throat, just a dry, coughing noise and a click.

“Are you listening to me??” he asked, leaning back slightly, and you blinked, eyes shifting as if refocusing.

“Oh, um. Huh? Yeah, sorry,” you giggled, leaning towards him as if to make up for the distance he'd put between you. “Um, you're Papyrus, right? Sans mentioned you before...”

“Uh–” he glanced away, because holy shit, what was happening right now? “Y... es. I'm his brother, and, uh...”

“Yeah!” you exclaimed, grinning at him, and it was now that he noticed how much you were blushing, “He told me a lot about you. He really admires you, you know?? And I think that's so cool, you know, that you're so close, um. And you seem really nice,” _What???_ “like he said you were...”

“I–” he choked on his words for a second and took a step back, removing his hand from the wall and glancing around uncomfortably. “I don't– thank you?” You giggled again, pushing away from the wall, and he took another step backward as you moved towards him, because?? What was happening right now??

“Um, and he said you write? Like books and stuff?” you suddenly snorted, shaking your head, “Oh god, _'books and stuff',_ sorry... He said you're an author?”

“I... wrote a bit in the Underground, yeah,” he said, his voice a little far away, “Worked at the library, so....”

“Oh!! Really?” you looked so excited, beaming up at him, and he had to blink, because suddenly he _knew_ what was happening here, and, “I love that, I've always wanted to work in a library, you know? It's so peaceful, and, um, I like to read. I'd love to read your books, um, if you have them, or you could tell me where to get them. What are they about?” you went on, sending a sweet, simpering smile his way, and–

And his books were about literally whatever _bullshit_ was on his mind when he picked up the pen, half of them were basically just him roasting people or documenting his thoughts, and he wasn't going to show them off to some random human who was– who was _flirting_ with him in his own home!!

“I– they–” he took another step back, suddenly flushed and sweating far more than he was comfortable with, “you– my– room is on fire! I need to attend to that!”

“Um–” he didn't let you finish before he warped himself away abruptly, but he could hear the exclamation you let out when he landed in his room, falling forward onto his bed and burying his face in his pillow to try and calm his riled up magic. “Whoa! Hello??”

He did not respond, and he heard you go back to the kitchen after a moment, nervous tension coiling in his bones as he imagined the _conversation_ you were about to have with his brother.

With a groan, he curled up and gripped his pillow, because he'd never had an interaction with a human that went quite like _that_ , especially not during one of his shovel talks, and he had _certainly_ not been prepared.

Maybe he could just pretend that never happened. Maybe he could just never speak to you again and call it a life. He could avoid his brother too, if he had to, he could live in his room from now on, only leave by warping or the window.

Because he couldn't close his sockets without seeing the way you smiled at him, eyes wide and bright and... really pretty. Leaning in really close, laughing at everything he said.

He groaned again, huffing into his pillow and deciding he had had enough of being conscious for today. Papyrus prayed that you would not follow him into his dreams.

~~~~~~~

“SO!” Sans exclaimed about a week later, when Papyrus warped into his chair at the kitchen table. He was plating some eggs as he spoke, placing them in front of Papyrus with a gleeful look on his face. Dread curdled inside of him– he had expected this to happen eventually, had known that he'd been living on borrowed time. “MY NEW FRIEND SEEMS _AWFULLY_ INTERESTED IN YOU ALL OF A SUDDEN....”

Papyrus ignored him, reaching out to grab his glass of juice and take a sip as Sans plated up his own breakfast, still looking like he'd just received some wonderful news.

“WHICH IS ODD! BECAUSE I HAVEN'T INTRODUCED YOU TO THEM YET,” he went on, returning the pan to the stove and moving to seat himself at the table. The tone he used to continue was feigning boredom, a mischievous glint in his socket. “BUT THEY'VE BEEN ASKING ABOUT YOU A LOT, ALMOST AS IF THEY'VE MET YOU... AND THE LAST TIME THEY CAME OVER, THEY KEPT ASKING _WHERE YOU WERE_ , AND IF YOU WERE GOING TO _COME WITH US TO THE PARK_ , AND IF YOU WERE _DOING OKAY_ SINCE THEY LAST SAW YOU _DISAPPEAR INTO THIN AIR_...” His sockets creased with mirth, eye lights bright little stars shining out at Papyrus' grim expression.

“AND I JUST THOUGHT, YOU KNOW, IT WAS AWFULLY FITTING THAT THEY LIKE YOU SO MUCH!” he said, tone wavering with amusement, “MY COOL BRO! MAKING FRIENDS LIKE YOUR OLDER BROTHER, HMM? I WONDER WHEN YOU HAD THE TIME TO DO THAT!”

“Please,” Papyrus said, ducking his head and groaning, “stop.” Sans only giggled, lifting his fork to poke at his eggs.

“WELL, I'M JUST GLAD THAT THE TWO OF YOU ARE _GETTING ALONG_ SO WELL,” he said, and his tone would have been soothing if not for the thinly veiled sarcasm. “AND I WANTED TO INVITE YOU ALONG TODAY. OUR HUMAN FRIEND WANTS TO SEE A MOVIE, AND GOSH. THEY JUST CAN'T STOP ASKING ABOUT YOU.”

Papyrus didn't respond, head full of the image of you giggling and leaning towards him, flushed expression trained on him.

“IF YOU WANT TO GO, THAT IS,” he went on, tone a lot more natural now that he was done teasing Papyrus, “WE WERE GOING TO GO TO GRILLBY'S STAND AFTERWARD. HE'S BY THE BEACH, TODAY.”

“Yeah,” Papyrus answered with a huff.

“YOU'LL GO?” Sans asked, sounding both equally surprised and pleased. Papyrus couldn't help but picture the way you'd beamed at him, couldn't help but wonder if you'd do it again if he showed up today, if you'd be excited to see him. He heaved a sigh, picking up his fork and lifting his head to frown at his brother.

“Yeah,” he repeated, “I could stand to get out of the house today, anyway...”

And if he paid you a little more attention than was strictly necessary, well. It wasn't like he didn't still need to keep an eye on you. For the sake of his brother.

Even if he wasn't sure he believed that reason himself.

**Author's Note:**

> papyrus should probably apologize for being an asshole first, but can you blame him if that's not really on his mind??
> 
> anyway, thanks for reading. :3


End file.
